Liebster Award

Although I'm not strictly a Mummy Blogger (except to my little Jack Russell, Crumble) I was so pathetically thrilled and touch to be nominated for the Liebster Award by http://themummydichotomy.blogspot.com  (@mummydichotomy). Because I am new to blogging and although have made many lovely Mummy Blogger friends, I can't obviously write or comment about being one, and am still trying to find my "meme" (!) amongst bloggers.So to be appreciated for writing about non Mummy things is A - Mazing! I love her blogs they are always so joyful to read brightening even the darkest day! Please take a moment to have a look - and a smile!

The Liebster Award is designed to be awarded to 'small' blogs with less than 300 subscribers to spread the blog love and get them out to a wider audience. The rules are:

1. Post displaying the award (done), linking back to the person who awarded you (done)
2. Choose your own blog picks (below) and let them know they’re awarded
3. Hope everyone discovers some new favourites
4. Revel in the blog love!

I choose to award the following wonderful bloggers:

http://manic-mums.blogspot.com
http://thepixiespocket.blogspot.com
http://ChocOrangecitymum.blogspot.com

I hope you enjoy them.

Life Beyond the Desk

My lovely Twitter friend @preggersplays quit her job today and is questioning her decision to do so. For me, it was the best thing I ever did!

I had spent nearly my whole working life in London working in Media. It had huge financial rewards, I travelled the world first class, had drivers at my disposal, ate in the finest restaurants, drank the finest wines. Made many many friends. Why on earth, you might say, did you pack it in then?

Well.....because I had an opportunity to take redundancy and that gave me the freedom to choose and I chose to leave London, buy a little cottage here in the Cotswolds and live happily ever after. But it was more than that and before I start I need to clarify that nothing I am about to say relates to any of my colleagues that I twitter with - they will know to whom I refer!!

I worked in the 70s and early 80s when media was run by gentlemen. I then worked for a Fat Cat who was not a gentleman and by the time the 90s had arrived I was working for a company where only the financial bottom line mattered. Manners didn't and people certainly didn't matter.  It makes me laugh at the present day political correctness! My god I would have made MILLIONS in suing had the language that is considered offensive about women now existed then! It was routine to sit listening to who was shagging who in the office - and most of them were!! I remember one guy coming in to work with a terrible hangover and saying to me "I don't suppose there's any chance of a shag is there?" Whether I knew them or not people used to call me "darling" over the phone. It was part of the laddish media culture and actually I found it very amusing! Every other word began with "F".

But the back stabbing and bitching and competitiveness and the daily struggle to survive towards the end was horrendous. 

I wouldn't change the time I worked - I loved it. I cried every day and still loved it. Most of my friends are from the world of media and I love them.  But it was time. A new chapter, a new life and frankly - even without all the glittering accompaniments that went with the job - I have a better, happier less stressful life.

I've been here 8 years now and don't regret leaving at all.  I'm living in a truly English village where manners DO matter, where no one swears, where gentlemen still exist! So to @preggersplays I would say this....there IS life beyond the desk and it is YOUR life! Go girl!!

The (Non) Silence of The Lambs

Spring is busting out all over!! Our afternoon walks this week have been even more enjoyable as we have been watching lambs being born every day!!  There is something so utterly cute about them - all soft and floppy.....and NOISY!! 

Brian, the shepherd/midwife held up one for us to look at just after it was born - although we are not allowed to touch them because the Ewe would disown it as it wouldn't recognise our smells.


They have the same effect on me as puppies and kittens - I want to take one home. 80 have been born so far with another 400 ewes due twins and triplets in the coming days.


Now, where's the mint jelly, garlic and rosemary? 

Two Fast Puds

For some reason - oh yes a MAJOR disagreement with my computer! - I didn't do a Monday Night Supper Recipe for you all.  Cooking isn't necessarily my "meme" but it is as good a place to start while I think what to blog about. (And the Queen of Blogging @SuperAmazingMum suggested it so who am I to argue?!)


My lovely new Twitter friend @MrsShaunaTate was asking for help this afternoon with ideas for supper.  I gave her some savoury recipes but it reminded me that I have a couple of blindingly easy and very quick pudding recipes which I could share with all you busy people. So...here they are! Sorry there are no photos but frankly that is one cyber step too far for me!

5 MINUTE CHOCOLATE MUG CAKE

 

4 tablespoons flour

4 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoons cocoa

1 egg

3 tablespoons milk

3 tablespoons oil or butter

3 tablespoons chocolate chips (optional)

A small splash of vanilla extract

1 large coffee mug

 

Add dry ingredients to mug, and mix well. Crack egg into mug and stir well. Pour in milk, butter/oil mix and add vanilla extract.  Pop mug into microwave and zap for 3 mins.

 

Can be eaten in the mug or run knife round sides and tip out still warm and serve with ice cream.  1 large mug serves two children/one adult!

 

 

 

APPLE STEAM SPONGE PUDDING

Slice a bramley apple into the bottom of a pudding bowl and zap in the microwave for about 1 minute.

Mix together a 1 egg sponge mix (or approximately a heaped dessert spoon soft margarine, same of sugar, 1 egg and enough flour to make a sponge mix texture).

Sprinkle sugar to taste on the apple.  Put sponge mix on top.  Cover with foil and pop into a saucepan of boiling water for about 4 minutes.

To save time you can microwave the sponge in about 4 minutes on a medium power, but practice makes perfect.

Serve with custard or cream or something similar.

For larger quantities, double the ingredients!  Jam works instead of apple or even golden syrup.

One Word Meme

I've been tagged.   A tag from the Super Amazing non-stop Tweeter @superamazingmum. .Anyway, It's a dangerous thing to do because it means you get to describe me in ONE WORD! Play nice girls!!

The idea originated from  Mummy from the Heart who says the following:

This got me thinking about an email I received a few years back, one of those circular things that I normally hate but this one I loved and have never forgotten.  It was about the power of positive affirmations and how knowing what positive things others think of you can boost your own self-esteem.  It talked of an inspirational teacher who got all her children to write one positive word down to describe the other children in the class and then they had to hand them in.  The teacher then collated all the positive words for each child into a special sheet for them and handed it to them to read and keep.  They learnt that their peers saw them in ways they had never imagined and it had an immense effect on them.  The story goes that one of them died and a number of them attended the funeral and it was found that they all still had their lists 20 or so years later as they had been really touched by this loving gesture.  Did this really happen?  Who knows, but I love the sentiment of this story and therefore it does not matter to me if it was real.
Well, what about if us bloggers and virtual friends did something similar?


So, fastandluce is............?!!!

Monday Night Supper

 When I was in hospital I was on a food drip for months. I loosely use the word "food" as it was just a bag of liquid full of all the right vitamins and things I needed to keep me alive! Being someone who LOVES her food (too much!) I used to fantasise about what I would eat once I was able to. Strangely enough the one thing I wanted was Heinz Spaghetti on toast and when that wonderful day of finally going home arrived, I had them for supper! I don't know why I wanted them, I hadn't eaten them for at least 35 years and unfortunately I found them disgusting!! However, while I was dreaming of more yummy things, one of my nurses gave me a wonderful sausage casserole recipe to take home with me - I think originally it was a Jamie Oliver one - and it is DELICIOUS! 


So, for those of you who enjoyed my Homity Pie recipe last week, I thought I'd share this one with you. It's very easy and quick to prepare.


STICKY SAUSAGE CASSEROLE


Ingredients:


2 X 500g  Punnets Baby Cherry Tomatoes
Packet of Sausages (I use herby Cumberlands)
2 cloves crushed garlic
Lashings of Olive Oil and Balsamic Vinegar
About a tablespoon of Oregano
Two sprigs of Rosemary
Salt, Pepper


Method:


Spread garlic around dish, add whole tomatoes, oil and balsamic vinegar, add oregano and mix.  Lie the sausages on the top and then season. Finally put the sprigs of rosemary on top and put in the oven (200 or Gas 5) for about half an hour. Turn sausages and then put back in for another 15 mins or so. Should be a lovely sticky rich sauce!  

Enjoy!

Pet Hates

This week my fellow Twitters have prompted me to consider my Pet Hates.....first of all let me make it quite clear I do not hate my pet - I love her to pieces!

Like @superamazingmum my "grumpy old woman" list could go on for days but here are some.....If you want to join in please link in via @katetakes5

1)    Ungrateful Drivers.

If I stop to let you do some manoeuvre - let you in to a queuing line of traffic or sit and wait for you to get into a parking space for example - then say thank you.  How much effort is it to put your hand up to acknowledge my kindness? And while we are on the subject there is a 30MPH speed limit through this village for a reason (dogs, children....ME), use it! This is not the M40.

2)    Opinions.


If you have an opinion on something that differs from mine it doesn't make yours FACT.  An opinion is an opinion, neither of us are necessarily right, so why go off on a strop when I don't actually agree with your words of wisdom(?!). I had a difference of opinion with someone over the difference between Baptism and Christening.  They haven't spoken to me since! This actually was one of my door slamming teenagers  http://t.co/mASY3KO but grown ups do it too!


3)    Thank You Letters.


I went to a lot of effort to cook you a lovely meal or buy you a lovely present. An email to say thank you doesn't cut it.....if you can't be arsed to write a letter, send me a postcard. AND if you are coming to dinner, tell me that you are vegetarian when you accept the invitation, don't wait for the moment I triumphantly produce Beef Wellington at the table!!

4)    Love my Dog


When I come round to your house, or you visit mine, I interact with your children, let them climb all over me and my furniture, listen to them scream and say how cute and lovely they are (which in some cases they are not!). My very little dog is my "child". She is sweet and on the whole well behaved.  Unless you have a serious allergy, please interact with her - don't react as if I have a foaming mouthed rotweiller.

5)   Katie Price!


If I had to chose one person in the whole world (barking mad dictators excluded) with whom I have a pet hate it is her.  What is the point of her??!! Why is she in every paper every day? Why do we have to have a TV series about her life (now in its 6th series!!). Who cares.........grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Recipe for Homity Pie

Especially for @helloitsgemma @SuperAmazingMum @Choc0range @northernmum1 @teawithonesugar  here is my recipe for Homity Pie!


 It’s an old fashioned pastry and vegetable pie. I sometimes add apple which is not part of the original recipe but delicious anyway!

These ingredients make either 6 individual or one big pie.

300g/10 oz Shortcrust Pastry (I use frozen!)

350g/12 oz Potatoes, peeled

250g/ ½ lb Onions, peeled and roughly-chopped

250g/ ½ lb Leeks, carefully-washed - then cut into pieces

45ml/3 tablespoons Vegetable Oil

25g/1 oz Butter (plus a little to line the pie tins)

a small bunch of fresh Parsley

a large pinch a Thyme

300g/10 oz grated Cheddar Cheese

2 medium cloves of Garlic, peeled and finely-chopped

2 Crisp Dessert Apples (red if possible), cored and cut into pieces - but the skin left on

60ml/4 tablespoon Milk or Single Cream

2 Eggs, lightly-beaten

Salt and freshly-ground Black Pepper to taste

a pinch of Cayenne Pepper

Method:

Lightly butter the pie tins.

1.                Roll out the pastry and line the pie tins. Chill the tins while you make the filling. I shove them in the freezer.

2.                Boil or steam the potatoes until they're tender - then chop them into bite-sized pieces.

3.                Fry the chopped onions and leeks over a gentle heat in the vegetable oil, until they're soft. Add the apple pieces and mix in.

4.                Add the garlic, followed by the potatoes, butter, parsley and thyme, the eggs, half the cheese and the milk.

5.                Season with salt and pepper and combine the mixture well together.

6.                The pies can be prepared in advance up to this stage.

7.                Fill the pies and cover them with the remaining cheese.

8.                Bake them in a pre-heated oven 220C/425F/Gas 7, for 20 minutes, or until golden.

Serve warm.